WITH this year’s Mid-Autumn Festival just around the corner, mooncakes containing traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) ingredients are increasingly popular, as Chinese consumers have become more health-minded. TCM theories hold that many herbs can act as both nourishment and medicine, being as effective in disease prevention as pharmaceuticals. To date, the National Health Commission and the State Administration for Market Regulation have recognized 106 types of traditional Chinese herbs as nutritional supplements, allowing them to be used in food preparation. Mooncakes — a traditional dessert for the festival that falls on Tuesday this year — are already made with less sugar and oil to break away from the stigma that mooncakes are unhealthy. The TCM ingredients have taken the effort to the next level. Tong Ren Tang, a time-honored TCM brand, has introduced a mooncake gift set containing ingredients such as danggui (female ginseng), dangshen (a type of bellflower) and shihu (the dendrobium flower). These mooncakes are designed in five colors, aligning with the TCM theory that five colors nourish five organs. Some TCM hospitals have also started producing their own mooncakes. “Herbal mooncakes, with just a tinge of herbal flavor, don’t taste like medicines at all,” said a female consumer surnamed Li, from Chengdu, Sichuan Province, as quoted by the Chinese-language Sichuan Daily. After learning that chenpi (mandarin orange peel) and shanyao (Chinese yam) can improve her weak stomach, she specifically chose to buy mooncakes with these ingredients. Despite the incorporation of TCM ingredients, nutritionists point out that mooncakes are still high in oil and sugar and are best consumed in small portions. Ma Xiaoju, nutritionist with the School of Public Health, Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, also cautioned that foods touted as TCM superfoods may contain very small amounts of herbs, and therefore may not have significant health benefits.(SD News) | 